Not to mislead peace: on the demise of identity politics in Iraq

Hewa Haji Khedir

Third World Quarterly, 2022, vol. 43, issue 5, 1137-1155

Abstract: By drawing on theories of transition to democracy, social value shifts and recent studies on Iraqi politics and society, this article offers a critical standpoint on the alleged demise/death of identity politics in Iraq. The article suggests that the sort of societal transformation that is indispensable to the demise of ‘aggressive sectarianism’, ethnic nationalism and the oppression of minority groups has not yet occurred. Any value changes favouring the consolidation of citizenship values and the formation of an Iraqi identity require, among other conditions, a stable, sustainable and steady move towards democratisation, good governance and a broader, often lengthy, process of social and economic transformations. The article therefore contends that any attempt at peace in the country necessitates addressing peace as (1) a fundamental matter of governance and (2) an everyday practice in the local terrain. Regarding state-building and governance, the article suggests that ‘rectifying’ the post-2003 trend may have adverse consequences should the process run in the direction of retreat from democracy and a rigid re-centralisation of the country. While Iraq’s ‘the local’, increasingly vibrant, its constructive impacts on formal politics and peacebuilding, remain uncertain.

Date: 2022
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/01436597.2022.2047919 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:ctwqxx:v:43:y:2022:i:5:p:1137-1155

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/ctwq20

DOI: 10.1080/01436597.2022.2047919

Access Statistics for this article

Third World Quarterly is currently edited by Shahid Qadir

More articles in Third World Quarterly from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().